Phillies Rally With Seven in Ninth Inning

Desi Relaford wasn’t waiting for the voters to speak after a seven-run ninth gave the Philadelphia Phillies a stunning 8-7 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday at Philadelphia.

“In the AP poll, it’s the No. 1 comeback win of the season,” the Phillie shortstop said.

Mike Lieberthal’s pinch-hit, three-run homer off loser Rich Loiselle (1-5) ended a rally that left the Phillies ecstatic and the Pirates devastated.

“It was the most excited I’ve ever been on the baseball field,” Lieberthal said. “That’s a lifetime highlight.”

Pirate Manager Gene Lamont had trouble believing what he had just witnessed. “Up 7-1 going into the bottom of the ninth, you shouldn’t lose,” he said.

Ricardo Rincon started the ninth but didn’t retire any of the four batters he faced. Mark Lewis started the rally with a leadoff single and he scored on Bobby Abreu’s triple.

Rincon walked Mark Parent and Desi Relaford before being replaced by Loiselle.

Alex Arias then hit a routine grounder which shortstop Lou Collier booted into center field for an error that scored Abreu and Parent, and moved Relaford to third.

Doug Glanville’s sacrifice fly scored Relaford. Kevin Sefcik’s grounder forced Arias at second base and Kevin Jordan walked before Lieberthal’s line drive over the left-field wall gave the Phillies the win.

Al Martin and Aramis Martinez each hit three-run homers for the Pirates, who lost starter Jose Silva.

Silva was hit by a pitch on the throwing wrist in the second inning. X-rays revealed a break, and Lamont said he expected Silva would be out six weeks.

Phillie third baseman Scott Rolen and manager Terry Francona were ejected in the fourth inning by International League umpire Greg Gibson.

After being called out on strikes for the second time in the game, Rolen had words with Gibson, who immediately threw him out of the game.

Atlanta 7, Florida 0--The Braves, playing Florida for the first time since losing to the Marlins in the National League championship series, scored six runs in the first inning and cruised to victory at Atlanta.

Ryan Klesko hit the sixth grand slam of his career, Denny Neagle broke a personal three-game losing streak with a four-hitter and Bobby Cox became the winningest manager in Brave history.

Cox has won 1,004 games in two stints as the Atlanta manager, breaking the record set by Frank Selee from 1890-1901, when the franchise was in Boston.

Instead of players like Gary Sheffield, Bobby Bonilla and Moises Alou, the Marlins’ lineup included Todd Dunwoody, Mark Kotsay and Cliff Floyd. The starting pitcher was 21-year-old Joe Fontenot, who was with the Shreveport Captains of the Texas League last season.

Fontenot (0-4) gave up five runs before recording his first out.

New York 2, Montreal 0--Al Leiter pitched a five-hitter for his fifth career shutout and lowered his ERA to a major league-best 1.53 with this victory at Montreal.

Leiter (8-3) won his fifth straight start, a streak that began with his other shutout this season, a 3-0 win over Milwaukee on May 23. Leiter struck out seven and walked one as New York won for the 18th time in 26 games.

Montreal has lost six of eight.

Butch Huskey’s bases-loaded single with one out in the sixth scored Mike Piazza and broke up a scoreless duel between Leiter and Dustin Hermanson (4-6) as both teams combined for 11 hits.

Arizona 5, Cincinnati 1--Omar Daal and the Diamondbacks set one franchise record after another in their first game at Cincinnati’s Cinergy Field, and the quality of the opposition had a lot to do with it.

Daal set an Arizona record with nine strikeouts and the Diamondbacks got another franchise first--victory No. 1 on artificial turf.

Travis Lee and David Dellucci had three hits apiece--all of Dellucci’s went for extra bases--as the Diamondbacks piled up four doubles and a triple among their 10 hits.

Daal (3-4) gave up nine hits and lost his bid for the first shutout by a Diamondback pitcher when Chris Stynes singled home a run in the ninth. The left-hander settled for his first complete game in 17 career starts and a career high in strikeouts.

Milwaukee 11, Chicago 2--Pitcher Brad Woodall did it all for the Brewers at Chicago, holding the Cubs scoreless into the seventh inning, collecting three hits, walking once and scoring twice as the Cubs’ 10-game home winning streak came to an end.

Jeromy Burnitz, John Jaha and Jose Valentin all homered to pace a 16-hit attack to back Woodall (3-2), who became the first Brewer pitcher to get three hits in a game since Jim Lonborg in 1972.

“I really didn’t hit the ball hard,” Woodall said. “Everything I hit fell in.”

Manager Phil Garner kidded that he was going to try and find a spot for Woodall in today’s lineup. “That will be great,” Woodall said. “Anywhere he wants to put me.”

St. Louis 9, Houston 4--While the 34,822 fans at Houston didn’t see Mark McGwire hit a home run, they did see Gary Gaetti hit a three-run homer and Brian Jordan a two-run shot as the Cardinals beat the Astros. Gaetti homered in a four-run first for the Cardinals, but the Astros rallied to tie the score with four runs in the bottom of the inning.

McGwire, making his first pro appearance in the Astrodome, put on his usual batting practice show with nine homers in 24 swings.